Defence analysts warn the federal government needs to become more interventionist and boost the stockpile of fuel to ensure supplies continue to flow to the nation's military and commercial sectors in the event of conflict breaking out.

Amid concerns Australia has only one or two weeks worth of reserves, a number of experts feared successive governments have handed over too much control to market forces while also allowing storage infrastructure across the country's north to deteriorate.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Peter Jennings outlined how vulnerable Australia was to a shock emanating from the Korean peninsula, with two-thirds of the nation's supply of aviation fuel coming from north Asia, including one-third of the overall total from South Korea alone.

"If we have a situation where North Korea has the south under artillery fire, it's absurd to imagine South Korea is going to ship aviation fuel to us," he said.

"If there is a conflict, most tanker operators won't go into the Yellow Sea or the Sea of Japan around South Korea for fear of being sunk by the north.

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"Within a week as a country we would be on fuel rationing. We're in a real dire situation on the fuel issue."

He said the standard international benchmark was to have 90 days of fuel supply within a territory but Australia was closer to two weeks with what was in country or on cargo tankers.

"Defence buys the fuel off the market just like Qantas and Virgin does and it's all geared to 'just in time' supply," he said.

Mr Jennings said Australia still relied on ammunition from overseas but this was not as bad because the military had been stocking up on a range of missiles and weaponry.

Emeritus Professor Paul Dibb of the Australian National University's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, whose landmark 1980s defence review emphasised the need for self-reliance, said Canberra was not being pro-active enough on the fuel front.

"Is it in the national interest to let 'market forces' operate and close down our refineries and rely on overseas through the narrow straits to our north," he said.

Defence officials told a Senate estimates hearing last year it have several weeks of supply for aircraft and vehicles, and a "number of months" for the navy. It also pointed out the military's fuel bill was a comparatively modest $455 million a year compared to other heavy fuel users, and was spending $1.2 billion between now and 2035 to upgrade infrastructure.

Mr Molan also expressed concern that the US had been weakened through its long-standing military commitments in the Middle East and would be unable to come to Australia's aid if under military threat, suggesting Australia should be prepared to exceed the 2 per cent of gross domestic product target it has for defence spending.

Canberra University's National Security Institute director Peter Leahy, a former army chief, said the US provided enormous support logistics, training, intelligence, communication and training and doctrine "but in some ways we have become reliant on it".

He said Australia needed to become more self-reliant, saying in the event of a major conflict the US would prioritise its own needs first.

"I don't think we should assume for a minute there is a guarantee we would get what we wanted," he said.

"We also need to be able to make sovereign decisions based on our own national interests rather than slavishly follow the US' national interests."